Adjustable timer



Sept. 8, 1959 H. E. LARlsoN 2,903,058`

ADJUSTABLE TIMER Filed March 12, 1956 4 `sm=-e'ssheet 1 //7/// "nl y lm Il' u' Il er H A TTURNEYS.

Sept. 8, 1959 H. E. I ARlsoNv 2,903,058

ADJUSTABLE TIMER v Filed March l2, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN ENTOR.'

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Sept. 8, 1959 H.- E. LARISON ADJUSTABLE TIMER Filed March l2, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 l //Z HQ .521

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Sept. 8, 1959 H. E. LARlsoN ADJUSTABLE TIMER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4- Fled March l2, 1956 Unted States Patent O ADJUSTABLE TIMER Harold E. Larison, Anderson, Ind., assign'or to Lynch .Crueration, Anderson, lud., a 'corporatitm of Indiana Application March 12, 1956, Serial No. 570,889

8 Claims. (Cl.-|1 61-7) This invention relates to an adjustable timer which Ymay be Used `for timing various kOperations of a glassware iing and a plurality of cams are mounted for rotation in the housing.

Still another objeet is to provide a .cylindrical housing with aplurality of cam discs stacked therein and arranged in pairs with a spool valve operated by .each pair, one cam dise moving the spool valve in one direction and the other cam disc moving it in the opposite direction.

A further object is to provide adjusting means operable for adjusting the c ams relative .to their eam shafts either while the timer is motionless or while it is ro- .tating comprising planetary gearing connections between the Cam shafts and the discs including a planet gear carrier that may be rotated for accomplishing the adjustment.

Still a further obj-eet 'to provide micrometer adjusting means for the planet gear carriers in the form of worm gear drives therefor, and to provide indicating dials for the angular positions of adjdStlnent.

An additional Object is to provide .a Vfully adjustable timer with means to indicate .the individual adjustments of each of the tivo positions ef each valve thereof and to also indicate synchronism of the machine of the timer shaft with` the feeder shaft of a glass furnace.

With Athese and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts f mv adjustable timer, whereby the objects above contemplated are attained, .as bereinafter more fullv Set forth, pointed .Out in my .claims and illustrated in detail on the accompanying drawings, wherein:

,Fia 1 is an elevation of .an adjustable ltimer .embodying mv present invention, portions thereof being broken away and other portions thereof being shown in section to illustrate details;

Fig. 2 is a vertical seetioal view on tbe line .of Fig.- 3 te show the drive means for synchronizing dials of my timer;

Fig; 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 showing one of the timer Vvalves` in one of its positions; Y

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the gearing between a Cam shaft and a Cam dise 0f mv timer and shows how adjustment is secured, this view being taken on the line 4:4 ,0f Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of the lower 2,903,058 Patented Sept. .8,1959

2 rportion of Fig. l1 as vtaken on the line 515 thereof and includes a diagrammatic view showing the drive to a feeder shaft and a machine shaft of the timer, Fig. 1 being taken on the line 1-1 of lFig. 55;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing a modified construction wherein a cam operates `a ytrip V.valve instead of a spool valve as in the previous figures, the trip valve being closed; and

Fig. 7 shows la portion of Fig. 6 with the valve in open position.

0n the accompanying draw-ings I have used the ref.- erence numeral 310 to indicate a vertically elongated housing in which the valves, cams and adjustable gearing .of my timer are housed. A gear housing l12 is located below the housing 10 aud the two housings are suitably mounted on the 'base of a glassware forming machine or the like (Ilot shown).

Journalled in the housing 10 are a pair of vertical cam shafts 14 and on each is a cam shaft gear 16. rThe two gears 16 mesh with a drive gear 1S as shown in Pig. 1 which is mounted on a drive shaft 20. The drive shaft 20 has a worm gear 22 thereon meshing with a worm 24. The worm 24- is mounted on a .cross shaft 2,6 which in turn is driven from a machine shaft 32 by spiral gears '28 yand 30.

4Cam .discs 34 are rotatable around the cam shafts '14 a double `cylinder housing 41 within the housing 10 and one of these and the drive therefor will now be described. The cam disc 34 has a diametrical groove 36 therein in which is mounted a pair of cams 38. r["hese cams may be longitudinally adjusted in the groove 36 and for retaining the adjustment, a pair of cam clamp screws 40 are Provided. The purpose of the cams will hereinafter Vbe described.

Secured to the bottom of the cam disc 34 is an inter-nal gear 42 which is driven from a cam shaft gear 44 mounted on the cam shaft 14. The manner of drive is through a planet gear 46 meshing with the gears 42 and 4d, the planet gear being mounted for rotation on a stud 48 projecting upwardly from a planet gear carrier 50 in the form of a disc having a worm gear S2 at its periphery.

The worm gear 52, and thereby the planet gear carrier 50, are adjustable by means of a Iworm 54 meshing with the worm gear and mounted on a worm shaft 56 terminating in a squared end 58 exteriorly of the housing 10 as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, with which a suitable crank or knob may be associated for rotating the worm shaft `56. Means is provided for indicating the lposition at any time of the cam 38 in relation to the machine shaft 32 comprising a spiral gear 60 on the worm shaft 56 meshing with a spiral gear 62 on a shaft 64. The shaft 64 carries a worm 66 meshing with a worm gea-r 68 of a dial shaft 70. The dial shaft 70 terminates in a dial 72 on the Vexterior of the housing 10 having suitable indicia thereon for indicating the position of the cams in relation to the machine shaft throughout 36()9 of rotation.

The usual method of driving the machine shaft 32 is from a motor M as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 5, the motor shaft 39 of which drives a positively infinitely variable gear P.I.V. The slow speed shaft `37 of the P.I.V. gear is connected to the machine shaft 3 2 by a .clutch (designated as such) and a Geneva drive shaft 33 which is the outgoing shaft of the clutch and passes through the Geneva drive that drives the glassware forming machine table as illustrated. The shaft 33 is then connected with the shaft 32 by bevel gears 35.

The cross shaft 26 of Fig. 5 driven by the spiral gears 28 and 30 from the machine shaft 32 has a worm l74 thereon meshing with a worm gear 76 on a sleeve 78. A machine dial 80 is secured to the sleeve 78 and is 1ocated in a subhousing 13 of the housing 12 which receives the gears 74 and 76 and other gears to be described.

Referring again to the diagrammatic portion of Fig. 5, the usual arrangement is to provide a feeder (so designated) for feeding the gobs of glass to the glassware forming machine. The feeder is driven by a primary feeder shaft 82 and a secondary feeder shaft 85 in the housing 12 is in turn driven through bevel gears 83 from the feeder. The slow speed shaft 37 of the P.I.V. gear drives the shaft 82 through gears 87 and 89. Thus, the table and the timer may be stopped by throwing the clutch out but this does not interrupt the operation of the feeder which continues to feed gobs of glass that are re turned to the furnace while the glassware forming machine is out of operation. When throwing the clutch in again, however, it is desirable to synchronize the machine with the feeder and this is accomplished by having the secondary feeder shaft 85 operate a feeder dial 94 (Figs. 2 and 5) in the following described manner.

A spiral gear 87 is mounted on the feeder shaft and meshes with a spiral gear 84 on a shaft 86 which extends into the subhousing 13. A shaft 91 in the subhousing 13 is driven from the shaft 86 by gears 93 and 97. A worm 88 is mounted on the shaft 91 and meshes with a worm gear 90 on a dial shaft 92 to which the feeder dial 94 is secured. As shown in Fig. 3, the machine and feeder dials 80 and 94 are provided with pointers 81 and 95 respectively and when the operator goes to throw in the clutch, he waits until just before these two pointers coincide with each other before doing so, thus synchronizing the glass feed with the cycles of operation of the glassware forming machine. The arrangement is such that the dials face upwardly for convenience of the operator. The

.subhousing 13 is provided with an openable cover 15 hinged at 17 to normally protect the dials from damage. This cover, of course, is opened when synchronizing the dials.

Referring again to Fig. 3, a valve housing 96 is shown attached to the housing and provided with a pair of outlets 98 and 100 for each valve that is operated by a pair of the cam discs 34. In this connection, it will be obvious in Fig. 1 there are a plurality of the cam discs stacked on each cam shaft 14 and the housing 10 is broken away indicating that there may be any number of these as found necessary in a given machine.

A port 102 leads from an inlet manifold cavity 104 in the valve housing 96 to which compressed air or the like is supplied for operating various pneumatically operated mechanisms of the machine such as the neck-forming plunger that must be raised and lowered during a cycle of operation of the machine indicated Plunger Up and Plunger Down on the cover plate S9 for the housing 10 as shown in Fig. l. In line 4with each cam disc is a valve bore 106 in the valve housing 96 (see Fig. 3) having therein a slidably mounted hollow valve spool 108 having ports 109 from the interior thereof to grooves 111 surrounding the spool. This spool may be in the form of a tube suitably ported as illustrated and provided with valve spool heads 110 and 112 brazed or otherwise secured in position with respect to the valve spool.

A link 114 is pivoted to the valve head 110 and to a bell crank 116 which is pivoted on a pivot rod 118. The bell crank 116 carries a roller 120 to be engaged by the cams 38 of the right-hand cam disc 34 and the housing 10 is slotted as at 122` to provide space for the bell crank 116.

Similarly the valve head 112 has a link 124 pivoted thereto and to a lever 126 which is pivoted at 128 to a second bell crank 130. A pivot rod 132 is provided for the valve crank 130 and the valve crank carries a roller 134 to coact with the cams 38 of the left-hand cam disc 34. A spring 136 connects between a pin of the lever 126 and a pin of the bell crank 130 to bias the lever 126 toward the position shown, yet permit its movement clock- 4 Wise about the pivot 128 under special circumstances as will hereinafter appear. Covers are provided for the bell cranks and their associated mechanism.

In Fig. 6 I show a modied construction in which trip valves instead of spool valves as in Fig. 3 are driven by the cams of the timer. f The modified form of timer is therefore suitable for those types of installations that have spool valves already provided for the various instrumentalities of the machine, and which require trip valves for operating such spool valves. A cylindrical housing 138 of single character is substituted for the housing 10 and its cylinders 41 of Fig. 3, and the cam discs 34 togetheriwith their adjustments and the indicating means for the adjustments are otherwise the same as in the previous figures and therefore bear the same reference numerals.

A valve housing 139 is provided on the housing 138 and has an inlet 140 to a manifold space 142 therein. Ports 144 lead to a valve seat 146 and a tappet valve 148 is normally seated against the seat by a spring 150. The spring is held in position by a plug 152. An outlet pipe (not shown) to the spool valve to be controlled may be connected to an outlet port 156 of the valve housing 139. The tappet valve 148 is provided with an actuating end 154 adapted to be engaged and actuated by the cams 38 as the cam disc 34 rotates. In the seated position of Fig. 6 the valve exhausts air from 156 through an exhaust port 158.

Practical operation In the operation of my timer as shown in Figs. l through 5, both cam discs 34 may rotate either counterclockwise or clockwise in Fig. 3 and have been indicated by means of arrows as rotating clockwise. Ac-

cordingly, the upper cam 38 of the right-hand cam disc has engaged and elevated the roller 12() so as to slide the spool valve 108 to its righthand position. Next the upper cam 38 of the left-hand disc 34 will engage the roller 134 and elevate it to slide the spool valve 108 to its left-hand position. Thus, in the two positions the air from the manifold 104 goes through the ports 109 and grooves P111 either to the piping connected with the outlet 98 or to that connected with the outlet 100.

Either while the timer is stationary or in operation, the positions of the cams 38 with respect to the cam shafts 14 may be adjusted by proper rotation of the worm shafts 56. The adjustment Will be indicated on the dials 72 and will be effected by rotation of the worm gears 52 and thereby the planet gear carriers 50 carrying with them the planet gears 46. The result will be rotation of the internal gear 42 relative to the gear 44 and thereby a different position of the cam `disc 34 relative to the shaft 14.

Some positions of adjustment are possible (though not practical in the operation of the machine) which would raise both rollers 120 and 134 at the same time. Therefore, I provide the spring connection 136 of Fig. 3 between the lever 126 and the bell crank 130 to permit of this possibility Without breaking any of the operating parts.

In the form of invention shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the adjustment is substantially the same and the trip valve 148 can thereby be operated at any desired point with respect to the cam shaft 14. Two cams 38 are shown which permit the cam discs to rotate at one-half the speed of the machine cycling but the cams to operate at machine speed. This cuts down wear in the timer. Also, it is sometimes desirable to run a machine or certain phases thereof at half time. To do this, one of the cams 38 may be removed.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my adjustable timer Without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modied forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may reasonably be included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a ,timer of the character disclosed, a housing, a plurality of timer units stacked therein and .each including a control valve, a timer shaft extending vertically through said housing, each timer unit comprising a cam carrier, a cam radially adjustable relative thereto, said cam carrier being rotatable about said timer shaft and having an internal spur gear, a spur gear secured to said timer shaft rand in horizontal alignment with said internal spur gear, a planet gear carrier rotatable around said timer shaft, a spur planet gear carried thereby and meshing with said internal spur gear and said spur gear on said timer shaft, said cam cooperating with said control valve for operating the same, and self-locking means for rotating each of sai-d planet gear carriers individually relative to said housing to vary the relative angular settings of said cams in relation to said timer shaft.

2. In a timer of the character described, a housing, a plurality of timer units stacked therein and each including a control valve, a timer shaft extending vertically through said housing, a series of spur gears on said timer shaft, one for operating each of said timer units, each timer unit comprising a cam carrier, a cam thereon, said cam carrier being rotatable about said timer shaft and having an internal spur gear, a planet gear carrier rotatable around said timer shaft, a spur planet gear carried thereby and meshing with one of said timer shaft spur gears and said internal spur gear, all of said spur gears being in horizontal alignment, said cam cooperating with said control valve for operating the same, worm gear means for rotating each of said planet gear carriers relative to said housing to vary the relative angular settings of said cams in relation to said timer shaft, and indicator dials for each of said Worm gear means to indicate the angular relation of the respective cams to said timer shaft.

3. In a timer, a housing, a plurality of timer units stacked therein and each including a control element, a timer shaft extending vertically through said housing, each timer unit comprising a cam carrier, a cam carried thereby for actuating said control element, said cam carrier being rotatable about said timer shaft and having an internal spur gear, a spur gear secured to said timer shaft, a planet gear carrier rotatable around said timer shaft, a spur planet gear car-ried thereby and meshing with said internal spur gear and said spur gear on said timer shaft, all of said spur gears being in horizontal alignment, means for rotating each of said planet gear carriers relative to said housing to vary the relative angular settings of said cams in relation to said timer shaft, and indicator dials for each of said means to indicate the angular relation of the respective cams to said timer shaft, said indicator dials being spaced along a surface of said housing and so geared to each of said mens as to permit such arrangement of said indicator dia s.

4. An adjustable timer comprising an elongated housing, upper and lower end plates therefor, a plurality of timer units stacked in said housing between said end plates and each rotatably adjustable relative to said housing, a vertical timer shaft in said housing, each of said units having an opening at its center to receive said timer shaft, a control element for operation by each of said units, a series of cams, one carried by each of said units for operating its respective control element, spur planet gear means for operating said cams from said shaft and including a planet gear carrier, the thickness of each of said units being only that of its cam plus its planet gear carrier and said spur planet gear means being enclosed between them, Worm gear means for rotating each of said planet gear carriers relative to said timer shaft while said shaft is rotating to vary the relative ,angular settings thereof relative to Seid shaft. and .indicator dials for each .of said planet gear 4Carrier to ,indicate the angular relation of the respective cams to said timer shaft.

5. A control element timer comprising a housing, a plurality of timer units therein between the ends thereof, each of said units being rotatably adjustable relative to said housing, a pair of timer shafts in said housing with said units arranged in two groups, one group `on each shaft, each of said units having an opening at its center to receive one of said timer shafts, a control element for each of said units, a series of cams, one carried by each of said units for operating its control element, each of said control elements being actuated to one position by la cam on one sharft and to another position by a cam. on the other shaft, spur planet gear means for operating said cams from said shafts and including planet gear carriers, said two groups of units being horizontally aligned with each other, and means for rotating said planet gear carriers relative to said timer shafts to vary the relative angular settings thereof relative thereto.

6. A timer of the character disclosed comprising a vertically elongated casing, two vertical timer shafts rotatable therein, a plurality of timer units surrounding each of said timer shafts, each of said units comprising a cam carrier, a cam carried thereby, a gear carrier, said cam and gear carriers being rotatable around their respective timer shaft, spur gear connections between said timer shafts and said cam carriers including spur gears carried by said gear carriers, control elements adapted to be shifted to opposite positions, one of said timer shafts and its timer units being provided for shifting said control elements to one of their positions and the other timer shaft and its timer units for shifting said control elements to the other of their positions, each of said :control elements and its respective timer units being arranged in horizontal alignment and means for adjusting each of said timer units individually throughout 360 of adjustment and capable of such adjustment While said timer shafts are rotating, said control elements being adapted for operative connection with devices to be controlled thereby.

7. A timer for a glassware blowing machine comprising a housing, a timer shaft rotatable therein, a timer unit surrounding said timer shaft, said unit comprising a cani carrier, a cam carried thereby, a gear carrier, a spur gear carried thereby, said carriers being rotatable around said timer shaft, spur gear connections between said timer shaft and said spur gear and between said cam carrier and said spur gear, a control element, said timer shaft and said timer unit being provided for shifting said control element by cooperation o-f said cam with said control element, a subhousing adjacent the side of said rst mentioned housing and having a pair of dials therein and facing upwardly, a machine shaft for driving said timer shaft and connected with one of said dials, and continuously rotating a shaft connected with the other of said dials, said dials havin-g markers adapted to indicate when said shafts are synchronized with each other.

8. A timer for a glassware blowing machine comprising a housing, a timer shaft rotatable therein, a timer unit surrounding said timer shaft, said unit comprising a cam carrier, a cam carried thereby, a gear carrier, a spur gear carried thereby, said carriers being rotatable around `said timer shaft, spur gear connections between said timer shaft and said spur gear and between said cam carrier and said spur gear, a control element, said timer shaft and said timer unit being provided for shifting said control element by cooperation of said cam with said control element, self-locking means for adjusting said timer unit throughout 360 of adjustment while said timer shaft is rotating, a subhousing adjacent the side of said lfirst; mentioned housing and having a pair of upwardly facing dials therein, a machine shaft for driving said timer shaft and connected with one of said dials, and a second shaft connected with the other, said dials having markers adapted to indicate when said two shafts are synchronized with each` other.

Peiler Dec. 14, 1926 Roth Oct. 22, 1935 8 Briggs July 23, 1940 Emerson May 13, 1941 Mingle June 10, 1941 Langer June 30, 1942 Rowe July 7, 1942 Winder Feb. 6, 1951 

